France's Realists

Updated March 18, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

We recently spoke with a senior French defense official who, for obvious reasons in the current climate, didn't want to be named. According to this person, the French government has been told privately that the cooperation of the Iraqi government with U.N. weapons inspectors is "completely unsatisfactory."

The cooperation that has been offered has been "a drop in the ocean," said this well-placed source, since "you're looking for 15,000 empty warheads, not 15." The Iraqis possess "dry...